What the FxPro account is

The charges inside the account and the charges the bank adds around it

Inside the account, the charges are the ones this site's cost pages describe: a spread on every trade, sometimes a commission, and financing on positions held overnight. FxPro states that it charges no fee for deposits or withdrawals itself. Third-party banks or payment providers may charge their own fees, and those fees are outside FxPro's control.

Around the account, the bank adds the rand conversion. When a South African reader sends rand, the bank or provider converts it into the account currency at a rate it sets. That rate is not published in advance, and the difference between it and a rate seen at the same moment is the real cost of moving money. FxPro's no-fee statement does not cover that difference.

Why an account currency that is not the rand changes every comparison

The account currency is the currency the account is denominated in. FxPro's cost pages speak in that currency. A spread in dollars, a commission in euros, a financing charge in pounds: each is a figure the reader must convert to rand to feel. The conversion happens at the bank's rate, not at the rate a currency site shows, and the bank's rate includes its own margin.

That margin is never a line item. It is embedded in the rate itself. A reader comparing two brokers' costs in rand is therefore comparing two unpublished conversions as well as two published fee schedules. The only honest way is to compare the confirmation rate against a rate seen at the same moment, and to ask the bank which rate it used. This site prints no rand figure because no honest rand figure exists before the bank acts.

Costs that accrue while you wait against costs paid when you act

Some costs are paid per trade: the spread and any commission. Some costs accrue per night: overnight financing on a position held past the daily rollover. A trader who holds a position for a week pays the per-trade costs once and the per-night costs each night. A trader who opens and closes the same day pays only the per-trade costs.

The per-night cost can be a charge or a credit, depending on the direction of the position. A weekend counts for more nights, because the rollover on Friday covers Saturday and Sunday. A trader who holds through a weekend therefore accrues more financing nights than a trader who holds through a weekday. The mechanism is the same; the total is different.

FxPro's published group licences are issued by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities Commission of The Bahamas. FxPro states it is also authorised by South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority through one of its entities; confirm the entity in your client agreement and on the FSCA register. Sending rand abroad is subject to South African exchange control. Nothing on this site is investment advice.